Eh what’s that? You thought the Galactic Alliance (GA) or Galactic Federation (GF – and sometimes Galactic Federation of Light 🙄 ) as it’s more commonly called was invented by Star Trek (United Federation of Planets) or Lilo & Stitch? Well I don’t know where nor when they were invented but they do take quite the prominent role in UK tv show ‘The Tomorrow People’ (1973-79). I should say before I continue that people around the world believe in the Galactic Federation, not as a cult following of this somewhat obscure series but as something they’ve heard of, I don’t blame them for that – the idea of a benevolent group of um… Places in our/and or various galaxies having representatives and forming a coalition of peace and keeping the riff raff out but in this tiny life of mine I couldn’t imagine it working. Committees aren’t my thing but then neither are dictatorships and courts are enough to make anyone sick unless they’re addicted to competitive debate and black mass cosplay. That doesn’t stop people hoping though, and believing in things like The Ashtar Command, the Zetas, Adama wait I think he’s GA’s blond blue eyed guy boss head… Lemme see who else the Andromedans, the Pleidians, Cassiopeians, Archons, the peeps from Sirius and Orion can’t miss those celebs out and well everywhere else possible. Again not an unreasonable thing to think there’s life or as many prefer to say ‘intelligent life’ ‘out there’ unless you suffer from excessive arrogance but I’m disenchanted with the Earth and how everything these groups say is too little, too late. Also just because I know something (and I’m not saying the aforementioned aliens are true) doesn’t mean I believe [in] it. I know humanity exists but I have little to no faith in us as a species. Make sense?

Good let’s move on.

The theme tune is fittingly bizarre and intense alongside the image sequence which changes per story arc but has some interesting staple pictures:

All seeing Eye spy is that a particle accelerator? No wonder CERN had Shiv in their lobby. Ignore the circles forming a circle around the eye, that’s from the video player

There were 8 series with 22 story arcs, story arcs had a varying number of episodes throughout and series 8 had only 1 arc consisting of 4 episodes. The series wasn’t secure, pitted as an alternative Dr Who (1963-present) but not so well produced it saw constant changes to its lineup bar 1 character who apparently cheated his way into the part and if true understandable that he was reluctant to give it up.

SO WHO ARE THE TOMORROW PEOPLE?

Youngsters who represent humanity’s next stage of evolution (if you agree with/believe in the theory of evolution), they are no longer homo-sapiens but homo-superiors. Possessing psionic powers e.g. telepaphy, telekineses and teleportation, and with energy transfer abilities like that can also heal. Having such a stage of self-possession/control they also have different mindsets i.e. they’re not aggressive (but can defend & stun), they don’t kill (excluding ‘lesser animals’ whatever they technically are), they don’t support or take sides with military, they are not patriotic as they work and indeed exist to advance all humanity and they’re moderators in the galaxy at large.

They do not start out at members of the GF because Earth does not have enough of a telepathic population to qualify but over the series they gain exceptional status of honorary members as ambassadors of an ’emerging planet’. Plotwise they mostly start without knowing about the GF or who their local representative of the GF is and yet John, the fist known Tperson built their secret lab in an abandoned London underground station with some help from the GF and their biological computer TIM has the voice of their GF representative Timus and knowledge of the GF. John at 17 is a scientist/inventor and also the unofficial leader – it had to happen sometime eh instead of the tech ‘guy’ being in the background although I’ve seen an awesome cartoon called ‘Detentionaire’ (2011-15) where the tech guy is also the big thug bully and the protagonist a boffin or an ‘original [cool] boffin’ as some of us used to call ourselves in school… I chuckled when the first time the Tpeople come into contact with the GF over some notorious galactic criminals was in Kennington where I grew up (and the weird things that happened there).

What are their goals in life – to find and help other Tomorrow People adjust to their growing pains since becoming a Tperson is a bit like puberty except for the first few it was almost fatal and only gets easier the more Tpeople there are, to prevent them falling into the hands of unscrupulous people like various military and governments who see them both as a threat and potential weapons, and to generally ‘do the right thing’ but sometimes that turns into doing the pragmatic thing and helping parasites in order to ultimately save Earth. I found those occasions particularly distasteful given I’m not an end justifies the means person. Overall though I could sympathize and empathize with them, they’re damned if they do damned if they don’t since if they told people about themselves they’d be subject to all kinds of harassment and negativity, people who’d begrudge, try to debunk/humiliate them and feeling the need to prove they’re just as ‘special’ whilst those with power/money try to use/abuse them. In the series we come across telepaths who aren’t Tpeople and the difference seems to be that anyone can be telepathic but a Tperson emerges out of the concern for the welfare of others. Jealousy is an issue, both telepaths and non-telepaths don’t listen to Tpeople because they’re too busy hating them and jumping to assumptions.

Arguably the Tpeople are not actually tomorrow people but original/early Earth peoples/beings as described by old cultures when referring to really bygone days, the iconic ‘golden age [of everything]’ or ‘when I were a lad/lassie err I mean my great, great, great, greatgreatgreat, great, great so and so was around things were better, life was simpler, people weren’t as disgusting, ‘orrible and generally deserving of a good slap’ etc.

The lineup of the Tpeople changed regularly throughout the series and I found most of their exits to be unsatisfactory, they just disappeared never to be seen again and sometimes we got a short explanation before quickly moving on. Overall there were 9 members with John being the most dominant one so you often to and fro between liking/disliking him, Elizabeth who was a rare Black actress lead on tv at the time and the show played to that big time mentioning her skin colour as much as possible but interestingly for all the [top notch and true] talks she gives on social prejudice we never see her discriminated against for that rather people are impressed with her colouring especially those who’ve never seen a dark skinned person before. That said when she’s not talking we don’t often see her do much of anything and in that respect I preferred Carol who was always ready to get involved, she good at both talking and physically helping out and seemed to have boundless energy which I admired. The two really stand out characters for Stephen and later Mike – they were younger mid-teens and did the most undercover work, Stephen was quite the well mannered knight in shining armor and Mike was my favourite (probably because at first he reminded me of me and then later I found him sweetly amusing); he was a regular London boy whereas John and Stephen were posh, he looked after his mum and sister, kept an eye out for the people on his block and wasn’t satisfied when he realised the law is hypocritical to class, he was also abit of a gentleman towards females like Stephen. The other Tpeople weren’t given as much of a chance but they included: Kenny, a 12 year old Black boy who seemed to like his solitude, apparently his acting was deemed as wooden but I liked him, Tyso another younger boy from gypsy lineage, lives in a caravan with his family and is generally willing and eager to help out, Hsui-Tai a mid-teen Chinese girl who didn’t have much of a part but did well when paired with Andrew a young-midteen Scottish boy who split his time between Tpeople HQ and his home up north, they both had strong heritage in their clothing & accents and just generally got on well together.

On a sidenote – their ability to teleport was called ‘jaunting’, a name I wasn’t keen on, and they were able to jaunt short range but with the help of a belt (and later bracelet) they could go long distance and with TIM’s help even further.

WHAT IS THE GALACTIC FEDERATION?

Ah well here’s where you might get some more interesting info than you usually find elsewhere:

Enough telephathic creatures make a planet eligible for membership, otherwise it’s a ‘closed planet’ i.e. a no-go area but that doesn’t stop non-telepathic races visiting since they’re not members and they can do whatever they want with said planet/inhabitants as the GF have a ‘non-interference’ policy on those. Apparently telepathic planets require permission so if you’re not telepathic you’re open-house, ouch.

There are 1 million+ ’emergent’ planets revolving around an insignificant sun, insignificant solar systems, in the rim of a rather insignificant galaxy, double ouch.

That said depending on the personality of your GF representative, they might be more or less caring of your emergent status – in our case our rep is seemingly well meaning and slyly uses the Tpeople to help out in areas where their skills are needed but can’t officially send them e.g. to closed planets where people have been enslaved.

The GF headquarters is called The Trig.

Another organization which may or may not be linked to the GF is the ‘Eternal Order of Time Guardians’, they are time travelers who use ‘tine lanes’ and ensure that events happen as they should or stay happened as they were… In one story arc Peter (the Time Guardian, also telepathic) is captured and needs the Tpeople to help him ensure that a rogue time traveler doesn’t make the Roman empire last longer than it did. It involves the death of another boy who did die at that time, they have an opportunity to change that but should they – it’s a moving story and I could feel just as Elizabeth showed the helplessness of feeling what’s the point in having power if you don’t/can’t use it to help and the sacrifice of one life is just one sacrifice too much, if someone needs help right in front of you how can you ignore it, and yet if they hadn’t the Roman empire would have spread, conquered, enslaved and continued to do so into space. These are the kinds of situations the Tpeople face all the time and I don’t always agree with their choices but it’s not easy when you’re massively outnumbered, that majority including groups/other animals who prey on you and when you can only trust each other otherwise you’ll end up in a not so nice end or existence of torment and then who’ll try to alleviate the mass suffering?

Sidenote – Peter calls the Tpeople ‘homo novus’ i.e. new man.

There were times when I wanted to give the GF a good swift kick up the backside. What’s the point in saying you won’t interfere and talk about free will, then watch all and sundry ravage a planet? The final episode echoed my sentiments – in which we’re shown the GF judiciary process similar to our court system where it can easily be about theatre and saving face in front of the public but of a very niche class in private. They can say whatever they want to/about you but if you say anything that possibly offends their fragile egos it’s contempt of court and that is somehow a criminal offence. (There’s a story arc in ‘The Rockford Files’ private detective US tv show 1974-80 that eloquently portrays how contempt of court and being held indefinitely without proper charges and trial is a convenient way of preventing/postponing justice by lawmakers, many of whom were born into or had the way paved into their profession, and have their own agendas besides or instead of responsible ‘authorities’.) The final arc also shows what happens to those who are technologically forwards and socially backwards.

THE STORY ARCS

Given that the production/visuals of the show left a lot to be desired especially in comparison to today’s standards it helped that the balance between story and acting really made this show interesting. The problem was that the stories and acting were hit and miss, when they had it they had it and when they didn’t it was obvious. Storylines covered all kinds of ground from reptilian shape shifters to mining the Earth, slavery on other planets, the Scottish Rite, sleep/dream manipulation, Ancient Egypt and the use of the pyramids, war in space etc. I think however the acting was at its best when they didn’t have to compete with bad stages & costumes and when they were focused on things they could probably relate to if they were really in the position such as the exploitation of power, bureaucracy, people willingly continuing the enforcement of barbaric practices taught and enacted upon them by masters just so they & ‘theirs’ can have relative safety/status in comparison to those they sell out, military/espionage – there’s one episode where a Russian female Tperson meets a most awful death and her bravery is truly befitting of her title. People are all too quick to use them as tools, she had no choice but she also knew what she had to do and damn well did it.

Then there were the low points like the Loch Ness Monster angle, the ‘bubble suits’ made out of bubble shaped alien skins that then possessed people, a reanimated Hitler made of green gloop and controlling others with black goo and it all started with the occasion they decided to do comedy in a dominatrix episode where for the one and only time they made fun of the alien characters, put them down and generally considered them pointless. In all of the other story arcs no matter how ridiculous the costumes were, or how strange the customs, how much they disagreed with or couldn’t understand them such as the silver men which religious fervor and a great big statue they believed guided them or beings who committing atrocities left, right and centre the Tpeople still showed them respect but for one episode the decided to go anti-feminist with the usual ignorant stereotyping and interestingly enough out of all the aliens it was pre-historic Mother Goddess culture that got twisted and got the brunt of it. Ironically they were also the only aliens that they incorporated into Earth culture but where they claimed they fitted in well, in Earth culture it’s shown that the ‘universal goddess’ theme was overthrown via degradation, demotion, deception, deviation, disrepute and dissemination in the Freemason usurper system which brought us ancient to modern day religions/patriarchy. From that story arc the series went downhill, the script wasn’t as gripping, the numbers of episodes per story were reduced and there were only a couple of highlights towards the end.

Before that they were quite meticulous in their culture/mythology for example most ‘alternative’ folk think that if reptilians exist then they’re the top dogs on this planet. However at the top of their pantheons usually sits a male known for his All Seeing Eye, it’s not often pointed out really so when I saw that the mechanoid/humanoid (reluctant to call it a cyborg or android) with the big ol’ serpent symbol on him was actually working for a cyclops I thought “not bad, not good either because it’s really crappily done but at least they got it in there” i.e Ra & his descendents in ancient Egypt became known for the one-eye, Shiv the alpha male of the vedic-Hindu pantheon is known for his enlightened third eye which only opens to destroy enemies and later there was Odin of the Norse pantheon. Plus the show not only put the upper hierarchy in there but the lower section too aka the human deviant group with ‘dinosaur’ on the back of their clothing. They are the human/dino hybrid made by reptilians to make lesser reptoid noble/ruling families i.e. the upper levels of the masonic degrees. (Two of those human hybrid/society that has secrets reps, the brothers Harding who have a US connection, after working against the Tpeople decide to protect them doing much of the physical violence that the Tpeople cannot and I don’t think I’ve seen a car – that belongs to one of them – covered in so many insignias before.)

Interestingly enough in the early episodes some of the sounds used, particularly piercing and droning ones may have an numbing/tiring effect on you that lifts as soon as they stop.

Ultimately the series seemed to express that war will never end as long as there are people who benefit in some way and consider war/espionage as duty/patriotism, a career and status. Many service personnel go on about ending war and the next best weapon will end war forever but as Elizabeth highlights with example after example the same train of thought was used with every stage of weapons development, each new type of weapon or spying strategy was going to put an end to war once and for all and it never did because without admitting it some people profit from war and want it to continue whilst they use those who need something to live/die for and an outlet for frustration to fight for them. Hence it’s misguided to go on about ‘serving one’s country’ when one’s nobles are busy marrying, going to the schools/educational institutes of, the weddings, parties etc of those they tell the public are the enemy and they have various levels of immunity and data secrecy from their ‘own people’ that lasts as long as they see fit. It’s even more pointless arguing such things with the TPeople who are beyond political boundaries and represent all of humanity instead of those who pit masses of people against others in their ancient grudge matches.

CONCLUSION

It was a very interesting show that wasn’t managed very well and perhaps before its time which isn’t a bad thing but meant that it was easily ignored and changed by later generations in remakes.

I also don’t see the point of the TPeople being young, they mention a couple of times that people with telepathic abilities can still become TPeople but we never see it and all new TPeople are kids (not goat children). It fits in with the whole ‘the children are the future’ line that we get all the time in media and education (whilst simultaneously dumbing them down) but what about TPeople or potential TPeople who’ve been blocked, drained, restrained/suppressed/oppressed etc? If they reach a certain age [range] are they past their use by date? What about all the adults in the GF? Did they start as children/teens and then just get older? I believe more in the present, we’re all responsible for our present and have the responsibility of remembering our past, I don’t want to focus on the future and live vicariously through children, I want to get as much done today as possible and not lose sight of the time I have. I’m also not keen on the idea of preferring young people because of their energy levels, I don’t think that’s fair on them or us older folk, there’s many factors that if removed from our lives we feel healthier, younger and stronger, I don’t think it’s fair to our body’s cellular memory to say I’ve reached an age like 30 and now it’s time for the next gen nor do I think it’s right to make adults of children (though of course youth is not an excuse for everything). Poor children, eldest children and children from single parent/other relative/guardian families already have enough of that as it is. Plus I’m not a vampire, I want my own energy thank you very much.

Last but not least by any means the TPeople don’t care any more about non-human Earth animals than normal whereas they’re not speciesist when it comes to aliens or at least aliens they can understand (since we see animals like horses on other worlds). That’s not homosuperior to me.